One Down, a Whole Bunch More to Go

Well, I survived the first day of the semester. It was a bit iffy there for a while--for one thing, I couldn't decide what to wear, and you must find the right outfit on the first day, because the wrong one can set a miserable tone you'll never recover from. In the end I wore what is almost my uniform: a long skirt (albeit a very cool one I made at the beginning of the summer and had never taught in before), a nice top, with my hair down but pulled off my face by a scarf.

The classes themselves were reasonably successful (except for the one where I tried to lecture the first day--won't do that again any time soon). I have high hopes that it will be a decent semester, although it's clear that it will be a busy one. So if I'm not as prolific in the next few months as I have been at times in the past, well, you'll know why.

The shortness is good only if you're too intimidated to think Holly. I admit that sometimes that describes me but generally, I enjoy reading everything you write whether it seems to pertain to my life or not.

Yes, the outfit is important. Both as the prof and the student. I have never been a prof but know that students judge on that. More so though I find that if a prof comes in with a fair but take no crap attitude they usually are the ones that have the better classes. I like these kind of profs because I tend to get more out of the classes. Good luck to you this semester Holly.

Wow, I never thought much about the first-day-of-teaching outfit dilemma. I generally just try to make sure my clothes are clean and aren't making any obvious political statements (so as not to alienate the conservative crowd right off the bat).

Friday is our first day of classes. I'll probably wear a black short-sleeved sweater and whichever pair of matching pants is still clean by then (I do laundry on Sat or Sun)...

Well, I have always loved being overdressed, and there's a way in which my sartorial style is part of my teaching style: I'm not neutral and neither are my clothes; I like women's concerns and issues, like skirts, but I'm not "traditional" or "conservative" in my approach to them; and I like color. I have begun making handouts only on colored paper; one day I accidently matched my handout to the shirt I was wearing and a student noticed; now I always do it, on purpose. It helps keep me happy.